Seneca - Stoic Philosopher (Blog 3)

One of Rome's greatest philosopher's could be just as vital now has he was during the first century. In a letter Seneca stated, "Look around at the huge influx of people which even a city as large and diverse as Rome can scarcely house. From the whole world they converge, ambition draws some, others are compelled by duty. Many thirst for liberal studies, others crave spectacles. Some put their beauty on sale, others sell their eloquence. The entire human race has flocked here, a city offering rich returns for both virtues and vices" (The Roman Empire in the First Century, Virtual Library: Seneca On Rome).

This was Seneca’s depiction of Rome which could very well describe any large city in the United States  like New York or Los Angeles. I believe that more of his basic viewpoints need to be practiced in our world today. Similar to the 1970's with the Make Peace not War Movement, he believed in the power of positive thinking, teaching philosophies of love and how to apply these ideals for one and all, "If you want to receive love you need to love yourself first.". . .“If you wish to be loved, love.” ... “Where there is a human being there is an opportunity for a kindness” (Seneca, and Campbell).

Seneca was born in 4 BC at Cordoba, Spain with a relatively undistinguished  background, however rose quickly to prominence at Rome with careers in both the courts and political life (Seneca, and Campbell). Considered a statesman, philosopher, writer − author of tragedies, and essays that considered moral, literary, and scientific subject matter. Seneca was educated in the philosophy of Sextii which was the heavily influenced by stoicism where virtue is based on knowledge and the challenges of everyday life should be accepted calmly. All knowledge enters the mind through the senses. No reason to stress over an issue, all the worry causes is more stress, worrying will not solve the problem. Recently I found myself so stressed that the work I was trying to accomplish was taking hours instead of minutes. The stress caused more stress, instead of being accepted calmly as a Stoicism practitioner.

Stoicism as a belief system based it's beliefs on the fundamental proposition "nothing incorporeal exists" only physical sensations matters, reality is what is known by the senses, and nothing else exists, everything else is imagination. There are no extremes, both pain and pleasure are acceptable parts of life, to be accepted with dignity. Stoics accept virtue as the highest good in life. and only by putting aside passion, unjust thoughts, and indulgence and by performing duty with the right disposition can people attain true freedom and rule as lords over their own lives. From my reading so far on this subject my interpretations of Stoic moral thought follows the concept that emotion leads to negative reactions so by living a life emotionlessly or with complete control over our own emotions we are able to conquer fear therefore the evils of the world. As an ideal, or a goal it might be worth pursuing, but I am not sure I want to be just like Mr. Spock, logic based. The Stoics believed that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.^"

Seneca expanded on these beliefs with a contexts that might be more valid today than in ancient Rome. He believed in making peace with death and living in accordance with nature. Many of his teachings are more like axioms to live by. Some of my favorite Seneca quotes:

On Anger

Even if it (anger) could be controlled, anger would still not be beneficial. But once started, anger by its nature is beyond control. Therefore the person is out of control.

Anger is a kind of madness that destroys the ability to think, and thus attacks our humanity directly. It is always to be resisted.

On Surpassing Difficulties

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.

On Direction:

If a man does not know to what port he is steering, no wind is favourable to him.

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.

Delay not; swift the flight of fortune's greatest favours.

On Loving

If you wish to be loved, love.

On Living or Death:

It should be our care not so much to live a long life as a satisfactory one.

Death you'll think of as the worst of all bad things, though in fact there's nothing bad about it at all except the thing which comes before it - the fear of it" (Seneca, and Campbell).

He will live ill who does not know how to die well

No man's good by accident. Virtue has to be learnt. Pleasure is a poor and petty thing. No value should be set on it: it's something we share with dumb animals - the minutest, most insignificant creatures scutter after it. Glory's an empty, changeable thing, as fickle as the weather. Poverty's no evil to anyone unless he kicks against it. Death is not an evil. What is it then? The one law mankind has that is free of all discrimination" (Seneca, and Campbell).

Basic Instructions on Life

The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity" (Seneca, and Campbell).

All art is an imitation of nature.

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment

In conclusion Seneca didn't believe that philosophy should be a word game or a practice of arguing for the sake of having an arguments for their own sake. Instead − and I agree with this concept − that philosophy is a way of life that all those who seek the good should investigate and adopt.

 

Works Cited

       Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, and Robin Campbell. Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae morales ad Lucilium. New York: Penguin Classics, 1969. 7-67. Print.

 

Blog 2: The Art of Silence - The Mime

Mime developed into a true theatrical form in ancient Greece where performers enacted everyday scenes with the use of elaborate gestures. When the actor was at a loss for words, physical movements took over. Performers were known as "ethologues" and the purpose of their skits was to teach moral lessons or to entertain without words.

Jerome Murat

I have always been amazed at the control of the very deliberate movements both of the body and limbs of the mime as well as facial expressions. The age old expression of a picture is worth a thousand words definitely relates to feelings or deep emotions that are developed by the actor. Miming appears very simple, but to be proficient takes dedication and years of practice. One performer that totally amazed me is a French performer, Jerome Murat (sorry about the French but this short video is worth watching) with his facial abilities. mannerisms and ability to make an inanimate object seem real. Just watching him standing still he appears to be a work of art.






From the very early beginnings of the ancient world − long before speech −cave men mimed the actions and movements of the world around them. Gestures were developed andaccompanied by body posture that developed into basic communication. This most fundamental way of learning is still the basis of how babies discover their world today, through imitation. As cave men hunted, they would often wear the head of their kill as a mask or camouflage, in honor of their kill. Possibly this was the first form of a play or drama.

Original refererce to mime go back to the original Theater of Dionysus in Athens where audiences of more that 10,000 would watch plays that honored Dionsysus (God of Theater), which is also considered the birthplace of Greek tragedy. Productions seemed to be centered around the development of a character rather than a plot, the most elaborate being call "hypothesis", thought to be the highest form of entertainment.  



The earliest versions mime was as a form of Greek comedy. The first mime performances could be very rude or be satirical insinuations of prominent Greeks as they ad-libbed their performances. In the beginning, the comedy was frank, indecent and sexual. But the action could also be heartwarming or tell a story. The performers could be coarse while using satire or use their talents to depict important contemporary moral, social and political issues.

Briefly, this entertainment flourished in the fourth and fifth centuries BC and when the Romans later conquered Greece they took the art form back to Rome where it enjoyed great success under Emperor Augustus. After the fall of the Roman Empire the church took offense to the theater and thereby closed all theaters and excommunicated the actors forcing the acting troupes into the street. Mime continued throughout the Middle Ages reaching its height in sixteenth century Italy in for form of Commedia dell'Arte. Performers would don masks with exaggerated features to draw attention to themselves and complement this with their acrobatic skills.

Marcel Marceau in 1940's brought miming into the countries awareness, a household name known worldwide, known as the world's greatest mime. Today, Cirque du Soleil went back to the roots of mime as a development of a character rather than a plot, added back in the acrobatics, costumes, dance movements and create enormous productions for international entertainment that would do the early Italian street performers proud.


Hundreds of mime schools and mime theater exist international for training and instruction including story building technique, basic mime illusions and character development. As an art form, nothing compares or clomes close to a miming for entertainment, relating a moral or a story visually without words.

The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Flood

    The Epic of Gilgamesh was written on twelve large stone tablets, which were discovered in the mid-nineteenth century in the ruins of the library of the ancient city of Nineveh, northern Iraq. The original tablets date to around 650 B.C. making this work one of the oldest if not the oldest work of literature. The clay tablets were originally translated by George Smith at the British Museum, who excited the scientific community with this Mesopotamian version of the flood story. Overall the stories relate the adventures of the heroic leadership of King Gilgamesh and these stories most probably circulated throughout the ancient Middle East as oral stories for many years before they were ever written down. Archaeologists discovered the earliest written record of these legends inscribed in the Sumerian cuneiform script on clay tablets dating to before 3300 BCE (Click here for Gilgamesh mood music) (Garone).

    At the beginning of the Epic of Gilgamesh story King Gilgamesh is described as two-thirds god and one-third human. He asserts his will upon his subjects, forcing his male subjects to build high walls around the city, which some historians give him credit with the building of the legendary walls of Uruk. When the citizens of Uruk appeal to the gods to tame their brutal king, Goddess Arura responds by creating Enkidu, non-civilized wild man who lives with the animals in the forest. When Gilgamesh and Enkido first meet they fight, but soon become traveling companions with many adventures together, but later in the story the two anger the gods who retaliate by killing Enkidu. Gilgamesh is heartbroken by the death of his friend and plagued by the prospect of his own death; this was intensified by a vision of Enkidu in the underworld of the dead. All of these factors relates to the second half of the epic as the king embarks on an endless quest for the truth of immortality. He grieves while he searches for knowledge, climbs impassable mountains, crosses wild seas, in short is devoted to find his truth. His searched ended when he finally found Utnapishtim, who has been granted immortality by the gods. Utnapishtim furthers retells the story of a great flood that the gods meant to destroy all humans. Enlil who was the father of the god's was very upset with humans, they make way too much noise, making sleep impossible, and brought the other gods into a council which decided to flood the earth. Utnapishtim was told by the god Enki to build a boat, and take with him representatives of all the living species on earth. Gilgamesh realized that Utnapishtim was granted his eternal life for the special flood situation, never to be repeated again circumstances. Finally − with many more adventures − at the end Gilgamesh's quest is fruitless and he is forced to accept his mortality,

    I tried to be brief in the above summary −believe it or not − and I barely touched on some of the main points of the story line LiveLeak Video - The Epic of Gilgamesh. The more I researched the epic of Gilgamesh the more conflicting some of the data, but it typical when dealing with translations especially ancient translations to have different interpretations. I was drawn to the vast similarities of the Epic of Gilgamesh flood and to the Biblical flood stories in Genesis. By comparing the Genesis flood with Gilgamesh flood story many main points are almost identical including both floods caused global damage, both were intended for all mankind, both had a hero (Noah and Utnapishtim), both had "gods" that order the humans to built a boat, both boats were several stories high, both were coated with pitch as well as having a window, all species of animals were included, birds were released to find land, both boats landing on a mountain top in the same Middle Eastern area, both human leaders performed a sacrifice after the flood was over, and all were blessed after the flood. This information was derived from a chart
that Frank Lorey, an archaeologist researched comparing the floods. Only main differences noted were the length or duration of the flood (40 days compared to 6 days). It is an arguable point between researchers which flood story was first. For those of the Christian faith, belief in the Bible is necessary. Without this belief, more and more doubt about the persons salvation comes into question, and/or the basic beliefs are questioned. The Christian belief obviously would take the stance that the Gilgamesh flood epic was derived from the Noah version.

    According to our textbook The Human Spirit "Flood epics were quite common in ancient literature and represented a cleansing of the community in accordance with higher ethical law." (Rogers,7). I believe that the two stories are too similar too be different incidences, and even if the Gilgamesh records predate Noah, the Genesis version has more widespread belief to be the true version. Many flood stories exist with different cultures, including the Muslims with a story of Noah and the flood in the Koran, which Noah is called Nuh. Was there a real flood? If these stories are based on a real event, then this type of a god is very vindictive and does not deserve to be a "higher being". I prefer the idea that we all have the ability to perform to the best of our abilities, we can walk our talk; we are all brothers and sisters traveling on a quest similar to Gilgamesh and we are all like Gilgamesh being one part human and two parts divine.
 
Works Cited 
Garone, T. (n.d.). The Epic of Gilgamesh, A Musical Interpretation. Web. 12 Jun 2011
         .http://www.garone.net/tony/gilgamesh.html 
Rogers, P. M. (ed) The Human Spirit, Sourced in the Western Humanities Volume 1. New Jersey: 
       Pearson Prentice Hall. 2004 Print.